Posted on 11/19/2006 2:41:41 PM PST by Mr. Brightside
CIA analysis finds no Iranian nuclear weapons drive: report
Sat Nov 18, 11:18 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A classifed draft CIA assessment has found no firm evidence of a secret drive by Iran to develop nuclear weapons, as alleged by the White House, a top US investigative reporter has said.
Seymour Hersh, writing in an article for the November 27 issue of the magazine The New Yorker released in advance, reported on whether the administration of Republican President George W. Bush was more, or less, inclined to attack Iran after Democrats won control of Congress last week.
A month before the November 7 legislative elections, Hersh wrote, Vice President Dick Cheney attended a national-security discussion that touched on the impact of Democratic victory in both chambers on Iran policy.
"If the Democrats won on November 7th, the vice president said, that victory would not stop the administration from pursuing a military option with Iran," Hersh wrote, citing a source familiar with the discussion.
Cheney said the White House would circumvent any legislative restrictions "and thus stop Congress from getting in its way," he said.
The Democratic victory unleashed a surge of calls for the Bush administration to begin direct talks with Iran.
But the administration's planning of a military option was made "far more complicated" in recent months by a highly classified draft assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency "challenging the White House's assumptions about how close Iran might be to building a nuclear bomb," he wrote.
"The CIA found no conclusive evidence, as yet, of a secret Iranian nuclear-weapons program running paallel to the civilian operations that Iran has declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency," Hersh wrote, adding the CIA had declined to comment on that story.
A current senior intelligence official confirmed the existence of the CIA analysis and said the White House had been hostile to it, he wrote.
Cheney and his aides had discounted the assessment, the official said.
"They're not looking for a smoking gun," the official was quoted as saying, referring to specific intelligence about Iranian nuclear planning.
"They're looking for the degree of comfort level they think they need to accomplish the mission."
The United States and other major powers believe Iran's uranium enrichment program is ultimately aimed at producing fissile material for nuclear weapons.
Iran insists it will use the enriched uranium only to fuel nuclear power stations, something it is permitted to do as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The major powers have been debating a draft United Nations resolution drawn up by Britain, France and Germany that would impose limited sanctions on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile sectors for Tehran's failure to comply with an earlier UN resolution on halting enrichment.
On Wednesday, Israel's outgoing US ambassador Danny Ayalon said in an interview that Bush would not hesitate to use force against Iran to halt its nuclear program if other options failed.
"US President George W. Bush will not hesitate to use force against Iran in order to halt its nuclear program," Ayalon told the Maariv daily.
Israel, widely considered the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, views Iran as its arch-foe, pointing to repeated calls by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to wipe the Jewish state off the map.
Hersh is an leftist idiot. I'd take this one with a grain of salt.
And oldie but a goodie:
Seymour Hersh: Bush Administration Planning Possible Major Air Attack on Iran
By Amy Goodman
Democracy Now!
Wednesday 12 April 2006
And lest anybody forget how well Seymour handles "leaks":
In more than 30 years in the business, Hersh has had a few slips. He initially fell for a set of forgeries purporting to show Marilyn Monroe had blackmailed President John Kennedy, but the fraud was uncovered before his 1998 book on the Kennedy White House, The Dark Side of Camelot, was published.
http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:mfKgxFwtrFcJ:www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041406O.shtml+seymour+hirsch+marilyn+monroe&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1
There is no one within the orbit of Mars who does not understand that Iran is ruthlessly pursuing nuclear weapons with full intent to use them.
Not the people writing this article, not the people sourced for it, not the Iranians themselves, not those flacking for them in China and Russia, not those finding excuses in the international agencies, not those waiting and seeing with palms outstretched in Europe, not Hillary, not Bill, nobody within the orbit of Mars thinks they are risking nuclear war over more expensive electricity.
Everyone is just more interested in seeing the US and specifically Republicans and specifically Bush, as well as the Israelis half the human race loves to hate, taken down a peg and humiliated. And if a few million innocent people have to die, well then, that's just a bonus.
They all know *exactly* what they are doing and they are doing it anyway.
So true.
Me, too! :-)
They're probably in Iran by now!
nothing to see here - move along
I think they forgot about the IAEA (I think it was) report released last week that found some plutonium at a site in Iran.
If this article is true, then the CIA has changed their tune: Iran continued to vigorously pursue indigenous programs to produce WMD-nuclear, chemical, and biological-and their delivery systems as well as ACW. To this end, Iran continued to seek foreign materials, training, equipment, and know-how. During the reporting period, Iran still focused particularly on entities in Russia, China, North Korea, and Europe.
Nuclear. The United States remains convinced that Tehran has been pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons program, in violation of its obligations as a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). To bolster its efforts to establish domestic nuclear fuel-cycle capabilities, Iran sought technology that can support fissile material production for a nuclear weapons program.
https://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/721_reports/jan_jun2003.htm#iran
What a bunch of crap!When are we going to learn that when your enemy tells you he is going to kill you,you take it seriously and plan accordingly.
If Iran says it is building nuclear weapons and is going to use them to attack Israel and the United States you better take that to the bank. I'm tired of the damn Ostrich mentality that brought us 911.
Why else would Iran utilize highly-enriched uranium if not for bombs? It is not needed for electricity, and is a very difficult and expensive process.
If anyone believes that, I have a bridge I want to sell them in Brooklyn.
GGGGEEEEEZZZZZ!!!! Why don't we just turn over our intelligence efforts to the Russian KGB. More quality, less money.
Let's just wait and see. =8-O
Wait for the D's to be clamoring on how right this must be, all while trashing our intelligence on Iraq as proof we can't trust it.
Uh, wasn't it Seymour Hersh who claimed the CIA lied about nukes in Iraq. He supposedly got that bit of information from a CIA veteran. So we should believe him now?
LOL! Yeah, outsourcing maybe fashionable to help Mr. Hersh destroy America. He has been protecting the mullahs, one leak after another, claiming that the US is about to attack Iran.
Yeah, Hersh, warn'em man, hurry before the US wins. Prepare a pre-Iraq invasion atmosphere, no "intention" to produce nukes..etc.
Bastards like this are costing American lives; yet, they make tons of money with no penalties to pay.
A marvel bestowed on traitors: The First Amendment Protection Plan with no premiums paid and no loyalty in return!
As Smirnoff says: Oooh, what a country!
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